


Personal Judas

by Lady CAMo (LadeeCam0)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-02-04
Packaged: 2018-03-10 13:22:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3291848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadeeCam0/pseuds/Lady%20CAMo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy have been working together from the outset. They knew what had to happen, and played their parts faithfully.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Personal Judas

# Personal Judas

 

2 September 1991

 

“I’m sorry about last night,” the parchment read simply. Harry found it under his pillow when he woke suddenly around midnight. He kept reading. “But I ~~want~~ need to explain. Things are a lot more odd than they seem. Eat the taffy I wrapped up here. It will allow you to move about the castle without being detected. Meet me at the astronomy tower as soon as you can.”

There was no signature or name.

It was Harry’s second night at Hogwarts and things were already getting secretive and strange. Or, was this normal for the wizarding world? Well, what harm could there be? True, there seemed to be something lurking in the third floor corridor that could kill students and the blooming staircases liked to change… What kind of school was this?

A new line of text appeared on the parchment.

“Please, this is really important!”

“Fine,” Harry whispered, stuffing the taffy in his mouth. First is tasted like chocolate, then vanilla, then mint.

“You’re ready now,” said another new line on the parchment, which then grew in size until it was a map showing the fastest path from the Gryffindor dormitory to the astronomy tower.

“I love magic,” Harry smiled and set of for this strange meeting.

When he didn’t see anyone at the tower, he began to wonder if this was some kind of boarding school prank. But then a figure stepped out of the shadows.

“Over here, Harry.”

Creeping closer, he saw it was Malfoy.

“You?”

“Listen, this is going to seem really odd,” Draco began. “But you’re going to have to trust me. That stunt I pulled before the sorting ceremony? It was an act. And act for you and everyone else, even my parents because I know they’ll be watching my every move while I’m here.

“My parents have been consulting the best seers for a long time now,” Draco continued. “And they all talk about a great victory for the Dark Lord, but coming at a great price. Well, I’ve been consulting a few seers of my own. And it’s not what my parents think. It’s going to be bad. Really bad.”

“Yeah, well, considering Voldemort’s a murderer that’s not a surprise really.”

“I know, but my parents, especially my father, seems to think we’ll be rewarded if we help Vol— the Dark Lord return. He’s wrong! Well, not totally wrong, but he’s got a lot of it backward.

“Harry, I need your help.”

Was Ron wrong about Malfoy? Was Draco a good person who’d been sorted into a bad house? “Keep talking.”

Draco gulped. “Harry, we need to hate each other publicly. We need to act and talk like we can’t stand each other. I’m going to have to play the part of the evil Slytherin or everyone I love will die, along with everyone you love. Even then, we’re still going to lose people on both sides. But we need to work together, secretly, in order to make this work.”

“He’s right, ’Arry.”

“Hagrid!”

“I wasn’t lyin’ when I said that I’m not supposed to do magic. But I’m a lot better at it than I let people think. Malfoy here isn’t lyin’. You two got to work together while makin’ ever’one think you hate each other. ’Arry, you’ll let Malfoy know what yer up to and he’ll do the same for you. I know it sounds crazy, but you got to do this.

“I have a spell that can help you,” Hagrid continued. “It’s one of me own creation. You won’t be able to talk to anyone but the three of us about this and only when nobody else can hear. You Know Who and the Death Eaters won’t be able to get through it. Same with the aurors. How do you think I can do all this magic without anyone noticin’? It’s from me mum’s side. That kind of magic humans can’t trace. Now, hold still.”

To their surprise, Hagrid didn’t use that umbrella of his. Rather, it was wandless and wordless magic. But both Harry and Draco could feel something change deep within them. A trust that was beyond almost anything hidden under a veneer of loathing.

“I really hate to have to make you two to work like this,” Hagrid said after his charm was cast. “And if you never can forgive me, well, that’ll be okay.” He sniffed. “But you two are already bein’ used as pawns in this war, and it’s just not right. There’s only so much I can do. My dad’s specialty was protection spells, and I seem to have that gift too. But the same spell I placed on you was placed on me years ago, and it limits what I can do. I’m sorry boys, but this should keep you alive. The only thing that can break the spell on you and me is the defeat of You Know Who.”

“Defeat, or death?” Harry asked.

Hagrid couldn’t bring himself to answer.

“It’s death,” Draco said.

“It just might be,” Hagrid confirmed. “This spell should keep you alive, but it won’t keep you from being harmed. But you two have to work together! Never forget that. Draco, you have to make it look like you’d betray ’Arry! This spell will help with that, but you have to make the hate seem real.”

“Uh, I’ll do my best,” he replied uncertainly.

“Good,” Hagrid said. “Once we get You Know Who put down once and for all, then we’ll all be free.”

“But why do we have to fight this war?” Draco asked, shaken.

“Because You Know Who wants it that way,” Hagrid explained sadly. “Hurtin’ kids is the perfect way to strike at parents, and he knows that. Some of the things he and his followers have done are makin’ stuff unchangeable, even stuff that hasn’t happened yet.”

“Do _you_ know what’s going to happen?” Harry asked.

“I used to,” Hagrid admitted. “While you were hidden ’Arry, everything was clear. It was like I knew the future, up to this summer, even though I wasn’t able to talk with anyone about it or stop anything from happenin’. It’s like rereading a book. You know how it’s gonna end but you can’t do anything to stop it. But now, I only have a sense that bad stuff is comin’. I can’t tell you when, but it’s comin’.”

“Will we survive?” Draco asked.

“Yes. But only if you act like you hate each other. You’re gonna have to fight each other, for real sometimes. That much I know. My hut is always open. There’s a hidden portal up here that’ll take you straight to it. The portal moves, though. The taffy will lead you to it.”

“Yeah, thanks for that, Hagrid,” Draco said.

“Don’t mention it. Actually, with that spell I put on you, you won’t be able to mention it.” He winked. “Right! Back to your rooms now. The taffy will be wearin’ off soon. I’d say have a great time at school, but I know you two won’t. And I’m really sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” Draco said. “If the Dark Lord wants us to play his game, we’ll play it.”

“And we’ll beat him,” Harry added.

 

* * *

 

2 May 2008

 

It had become a yearly ritual of sorts, this meeting at Dobby’s grave on the anniversary of the Battle of Howarts. No matter the weather, no matter the time of day when they left, they always arrived at midnight under a full moon in the clear sky.

“Well, it’s been ten years,” Draco said, offering Harry a bottle of butter beer.

“I guess Hagrid was wrong about breaking the spell. No one will ever know. Sorry about that.”

Draco waved the apology away. “Okay, so no one will ever know that we were working together all this time. The history books will always show me as a Judas figure, especially the ones written by the Christian wizards and witches. I’m Judas, and you’re Jesus. It’s always the same.”

“But we know the truth,” Harry said.

“Yeah.” Draco took a long sip of his beer. “But I’ve been studying some of those books, and there was one that made an interesting point.”

“Yeah?”

“For a lot of Christians, the whole victory from the cross thing is extremely important,” Draco explained. “And a lot seem to think that Judas Iscariot was the greatest tosser of all time. But this one book said that if it wasn’t for Judas’ betrayal, Jesus wouldn’t have had his victory.”

“Heh, it’s just like Hagrid said,” Harry said, shaking his head. “You needed to act like a betrayer so we could defeat Tom Riddle.”

“But you got all the credit.”

“Well, so did Jesus.”

“You know it was all an act, right?”

“Draco, you’ve been asking me that since our first year,” Harry replied gently. “I know.”

“I always liked Dobby,” Draco said, turning to conjure flowers for the elf’s grave. “He was a terrible cheat at hide-and-seek, but he was fun. I’ll never forgive Bellatrix.”

“Me neither.”

The two sat in silence, simply experiencing the sea at night. Though the air was cold, they were comfortable. _I love magic_ , Harry thought to himself yet again.

“Draco, maybe the majority of the wizarding world will see me as Jesus and you as Judas,” Harry commented. “But remember: you and me know the truth, and there are people out there who know I couldn’t have had my victory without what looked like your betrayal.”

“It’s probably better this way,” Draco replied. “For my family at least. There are a lot of former Death Eater who’re still mad at you and the Order of the Phoenix. If they knew the role I played…”

Again, they sat in silence. Two men who were the best of friends even though the world thought otherwise.

“There’s so much about us the world will never know, no matter how much we want to tell them,” Harry complained.

“I know,” Draco agreed. “But, at least we’ll never forget the stuff we did together. And let’s face it, there’s stuff we did together we don’t want the world to know.”

“That’s definitely true,” Harry snorted. “Cheers.” He tapped his bottle to Draco’s.

“Cheers, Harry.”


End file.
